Quick survey for my dissertation

[Kylie_1988]

Holders of a bachelor's degree with honours will have developed an understanding of a complex body of knowledge, some of it at the current boundaries of an academic discipline. Through this, the holder will have developed analytical techniques and problem-solving skills that can be applied in many types of employment. The holder of such a qualification will be able to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions, to reach sound judgements and to communicate them effectively.

 

This is the approved definition of the content of an Honours Degree - and still looks pretty much the same as it always did. The foundation degree also states a definition of research - and box ticking doesn't even meet these requirements.

use a range of established techniques to initiate and undertake critical analysis of information, and to propose solutions to problems arising from that analysis

 

Are we really saying that the entire purpose of getting into considerable debt is not to learn very much that is useful, but just to stick it out until the end and get the piece of paper? I must admit it would explain away some of the issues we have when employing graduates - but if it was my money, I'd expect, and probably demand a great deal more than this!

 

 

 

 

The shocking truth is YES, for many course anyway, the debt is not justified. There are some establishments out there offering good quality courses, but these are specialist courses. For the most part, the uni is just a business model. They try and spend as little money as possible, and aim for the most efficient teaching method they can, which is of course how any business runs. An example of this is my second year, 4 out of 5 modules was group work assessed, so how do any of the marks reflect me as an individual? As marks are generally equal, that means some people get carried through, while others do the carrying. And the reason for this, too many students to do individual assessments. They also say that uni is about independent learning, and with this justification, they get away with little depth in teaching, as it is our responsibility to learn. Yes, we are paying £3,000 or more these days, a year to be told to go and learn. However, the time that could be spent learning all this extra stuff, is actually spent doing assignments, which is a box ticking exercise. You in fact, do not get penalised if you haven't gone away and done tonnes of extra reading, you just have to read the sheet and complete the task. Oh however, you get penalised for not using the Harvard referencing system correctly- yes, priorities!

 

Most of the people from my year at college who went away to uni to do a similar course have had the exact same feeling from their course.

 

 

As you can tell, I have become very despondent with my course, the bonus was going to work for a company in industry on a placement year, with whom I am thankfully still with. Whereas many of my friends have gone into unrelated jobs or even back into education as they did not have the experience or contacts to get a job they wanted. I really think internships are a much better approach than uni for this type of industry which is so hands-on, and requires common sense, a strong work-ethic and people skills.

 

 

Sorry for the essay, as you can tell, its a sore point for me at the moment.